They never tested positive. They were never accused of tanking. They were actually born and raised in the country they played for. And they didn't, unlike some of their basketball opponents, swing at vital body parts.

What they did was happily attend other Olympic events, meet all obligations with the media and win every game with respect for the sport and their opponents, taking the gold medal Sunday with a 107-100 victory over Spain.

Sunday closed more than the Olympics. It also closed the debate about whether the 2012 gold medalists are better than the Dream Team of 20 years ago.

James, Kevin Durant and Chris Paul are special. But the Americans at times on Sunday played a front line of small forwards because they had no other choice.

Where are the big men? Apparently, in Spain. And as the Spaniards scored 100 points in what was mostly a tight game, someone in the stands in London probably wondered if that would have happened in his day.

Still, this odd lineup worked, especially when Durant aimed from the shorter international three-point line. The Americans played together, and they accepted roles. Sunday, when pressed, they also reacted with considerable poise.

During their time in London, they also stayed out of the tabloids, and that's not always easy. This team, like the 1992 version, had a Beatlemania feel in the land that created it.

Given that, the Olympic press would have jumped on the slightest hint of bad behavior. And if they had ever done what the Spanish team did in 2008? Posing for a team picture by slanting their eyes before leaving for Beijing?

"We would've already been thrown out of the Olympics," Jason Kidd once told a reporter.

And when Rudy Fernandez slammed into Paul at midcourt? Paul was far nicer than he is in the NBA.

When the game ended, Paul ran onto the floor to track down the basketball; he wanted to secure it for history. Moments later, several of the U.S. players nodded to history.

They went to Doug Collins, who was working for NBC, to give a nod toward him and the 1972 Olympics, to the team that to this day has never accepted its silver medals after its controversial loss to the Soviet Union. Collins choked up.

The difference between this team and the joyless, dysfunctional group in 2004 is staggering. And there in Athens, stained for the first time, was James.

Other stains would sink deeper and were seemingly indelible. The Games could never erase The Decision, right?

Maybe not. But what James completed in London will change how some see him. Now, in the same year, he has an NBA title, an NBA MVP trophy, an NBA Finals MVP trophy and the Olympic gold medal. Only Michael Jordan has done the same.

It's also how he did it. James remained unselfish, and he did the dirty work without complaint. On this team, he had to play post defense.

"LeBron James has shown an incredible amount of growth as a person, as a player and as a leader," Jerry Colangelo, the managing director of USA Basketball, said Sunday. "And it's all come because of what has transpired in his life."

Colangelo said winning the title with the Heat was huge for James. "But he also knew this was big for him and his legacy, and he seized the opportunity. He wasn't going to let it go. Because had a lot riding on this thing."

So, ahead by only one point entering the fourth quarter, James didn't respond as some see him, like the pampered Olympian who stays in a five-star hotel. Instead, he cut inside, where Kobe Bryant found him, and spun for a score.

He rebounded, and he set up teammates, and he finished. With two minutes left, James cemented the gold with a three-pointer.

"We knew it wasn't going to be easy," he said. "We didn't want it easy."

None of it has been easy these past eight years. Not for USA Basketball, not for LeBron James.